Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Circus Maximus
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2016
Running time: 54:12
Rating: 4/5
Progressive metal in the “classic” sense of the word, the kind largely defined by the arrival of Dream Theater on the scene, has gotten a bit dated and less exciting these days. Blame the rapid evolution of the metal craft, all the genre cross-breeding, the incredible technical chops the new generation of players are armed with, and the sometimes downright extreme complexity of their compositions. It hasn’t lost its value or its standing, but times change. There’s Animals As Leaders, there’s the eternally provocative “oddball” Devin Townsend, there’s Steven Wilson as more or less the prog-rock counterpart of all that, and similar “challengers”, not to mention the fusion of death metal with progressive elements (Alkaloid). Next to all this, classic prog metal can even get downright boring to listen to. Apart from a few established names on the scene, like Dream Theater themselves, who have a guaranteed wide base of listeners, the rest of the bands (even though they’re exceptional musicians who made exceptional albums) born out of inspiration from Dream Theater have been shoved off into marginal, barely-hanging-on territory.
Circus Maximus, those fine Norwegian architects of progressive metal perfectionism in the vein of the recognized and respected school of Scandinavian prog-metal fine mechanics, have ended up shoved into that sack of obscurity that now covers the whole progressive metal sphere.
Circus Maximus are still running with the same lineup, and four years after the release of “Nine” the quintet is delivering its fourth full-length, »Havoc«. In their own signature style, of course. Though the guys have dipped into a slightly trendy sonic makeup in their songwriting, noticeable here and there in individual motifs, as on the album’s title track (a muffled sound with lower tuning, a “chopped-off” way of phrasing the verses rhythmically, extra “gang shouts”), they keep up, as expected, an exceptional, almost fanatical commitment to high musical value across the songs, and so once again to forms that are easy to fall for and win the listener over in an instant (Loved Ones).
The distance from Dream Theater is growing even more, record after record. Through maturing. Artistic maturing, that is. Havoc deepens the band’s own distinctive musical stance. It won’t bring the band any new fans, but it’ll make the handful of die-hards, the existing ones, very happy. Circus Maximus really only go full Dream Theater inside the longest and most complex piece, After the Fire, thanks to the instrumental middle section, where keys and guitar land in the classic crossfire, a run of ultrasonic salvos of soloing. Otherwise the sound is balanced. Guitars and keys complement each other slyly inside the wall of sound. Sonically, above all. On that front the keyboards get to indulge in plenty of varied sounds to hold up the atmospheric backdrop, including a Hammond organ imitation. Vocalist Michael Eriksen remains superb in his deeply felt sensuality. His voice has dropped a bit lower and you can tell, since he doesn’t push into extreme high registers, the kind he’d then struggle to recreate live.
»Havoc« is thus an album that feels dark, yet incredibly musical. It has the band’s recognizable charisma and delivers eight well-defined points of high, mutually driven creative energy. That’s why this is an album packed with highly dramatic twists and turns. The solo acrobatics are skillfully packaged every time and placed in just the right spots in the compositions. That way they keep a solid shape of arranging and songwriting throughout, and with it a musical, under-the-skin allure. With the new album the band isn’t bringing a musical revolution, but in an unobtrusive, even modest way it delivers a fresh moment of outstanding compositional and performance extravagance and artistic maturing, the kind attainable in the genre of progressive metal (in the classic sense of the word).
Circus Maximus – Remember (official video):
Lineup
Michael Eriksen – vocals
Mats Haugen – vocals, backing vocals, programming
Truls Haugen – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Lasse Finbråten – keyboards, programming, sampling
Glen Møllen – bass guitar
Production
Mats Haugen
Tracklist
1. The Weight
2. Highest Bitter
3. Havoc
4. Pages
5. Flames
6. Loved Ones
7. After the Fire
8. Remember
9. Chivalry
